ADAMS, William Taylor, author and editor, the most prolific writer of the age of stories for boys, under the long familiar nom de plume of " Oliver Optic," is a native of Medway, born July 30, 1822, son of Laban and Catharine (Johnson) Adams. ...
[very lengthy biography including a list of his publications]
... Mr. Adams served one year (1868) in the General Court as a representative for Dorchester, declining a re-election, and for fourteen years was a member of the school committees, four years of that of Dorchester immediately preceding the annexation of the town to Boston (1870), and ten years immediately following, of the Boston board. For about twenty years he was either teacher or superintendent of the Sunday-school of the Dorchester First Church. He belongs to the Masonic order, and for three years was master of the Union Lodge ; and he is a member of the ( )ld Dorchester Club, of the Massachusetts Yacht Club (honorary member, an original member of the Dorchester Yacht Club, which became the Massachusetts Yacht Club), and of the Boston Press Club. In politics he has been a Republican from the origin of the party, with Independent tendencies. His first vote was for Henry Clay, and he was a Whig as long as the party existed. In 1884 he was a "Mugwump," and supported Cleveland's first term ; but in 1892 he voted the national Republican ticket, and also the Republican ticket in State elections.
Mr. Adams was married in October, 1846, to Miss Sarah Jenkins, of Dorchester. She died March 7, 1885. Their children were :
- Ellen Frances (died at the age of eighteen months),
- Alice (now the wife of Sol Smith Russell, the comedian), and
- Emma (wife of George W. White, of the Suffolk bar, died May 25, 1884).
With the exception of about six months in Minneapolis (1887 ), where his daughter, Mrs. Sol Smith Russell, made her home, he has resided in Dorchester since 1843.
